A Lull Between
by The-Loki
Summary: Two universes collide in the aftermath of twin catastrophes. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry gains a new professor that shows them a world where magic and the mundane aren't such enemies after all.
1. Chapter 1

A Lull Between…

By Loki

Chapter One

Nervousness and anxiety were soaked deep in the faces of the children who hurried along the British streets. Adults at their sides shared their worry. They made a rushed pace along the concrete walk, passing by house after house. English folk tended to be reclusive shut-ins, but the city block they were speedwalking down was quieter than usual.

London was far duller and far more silent than it had been eight months ago. Where had once been honking cars and bright lights were useless hunks of metal and dead bulbs. Summer was in its twilight, so it was warm enough for the enormous number of vagrants to emerge from their hidden places to bask in the still-warm August sun. Adult and child alike glanced at them out their peripherals and grasped at unseen objects in their robes; unseasonable for the time of year. The small army of black-robed children hurried past the street-crop while the adults pushed along with increased urgency.

A ratty-clothed figure leaning against a building reached out an arm. A green scaly hand emerged from the tattered jacket. It wiggled its fingers, and a wooden wand shot from the robe of the nearest child. The wand zipped into the creature's hand, and it reared the item back.

The nearest adult grabbed hold of the creature's arm and slammed it against the building wall. The creature let out a yelp and dropped the wand. A solid punch in the snout bounced its noggin off the wall and sent the creature to the pavement, revealing it to be a lizard-man. The reptile hissed softly as it went limp. The hurried group broke into a run, sprinting toward the train station that was coming into sight.

The train station was similarly quiet. Many of the massive iron horses lay motionless. There were no crowds clamoring for transport. The ticket booth lay empty. The group stopped and went silent, listening for any activity.

"Platform 9 ¾ this way!" A cockney voice echoed from somewhere inside. Looking about each other, the group started moving again, following the voice.

The group soon didn't have to look so hard, as a steady line of children in black robes were filing through a brick pillar that was not as solid as it appeared. With a sense of relief, the arriving people joined the line.

When their turn came, each child and adult stepped through the brick onto a platform the common populace never knew existed. A steam train that chugged and blew its horn rumbled on the track. The children hurriedly boarded the train, loading their possessions into their compartments. The last of the young passengers clung to the adults that had brought them, showing signs of fear. Their teary-eyed parents and guardians shared the sorrow, but pressed them onto the train, insisting it was the best thing.

The train pulled away from the platform. The passengers on board, normally wild and unruly, were silent, almost in shock as they looked around at the world outside, wondering what to expect of where they going.

A few hours later, after sunset, a menagerie of lights pierced the darkness. A castle loomed in the distance, standing as a glowing jewel in the inky night. Numerous towers reached into the sky, creating the first sensations of excitement the passengers on the train had felt that day.

By the time the train eased to a stop at the receiving platform, the children on board were bursting to exit. They exploded from the train, stopping only when they were met by a gigantic man with hair and beard so bushy his face couldn't be seen.

"'Ello, everyone! For those 'oo don't know me…and it looks like we 'ave a lot of new faces this year, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Professor of Care of Magical Creatures!" His voice was stank with the West Country speak. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"

A cheer arose in the crowd unlike Hagrid had heard in all his years at the School of Wizardry. The hairy half-giant broke into a smile.

"There's that elation I wuz hopin' for! Gather yer bags! The new year awaits!"

A sudden rush struck the crowd. They rushed behind Hagrid, eager to board the carriages and boats that would bear them to their one familiar place in a new world.

When the crowd of Hogwarts students arrived at the entrance to the Great Hall, the students of previous years went inside. The first-years, who were numerous enough to stretch down the stairwell nearly out of sight, were stopped by an aging woman in a green cloak that smelled strongly of cat.

"Hello, everyone. I am Minerva McGonagall, headmaster of Hogwarts. I wish to welcome you all to our school of magic. I'm sorry to rush you all, but you are perhaps the largest class of first-years we have ever had in the history of the school. I will explain the reason for that to the entirety of the students momentarily, so if you would please follow me inside…"

The doors to the Great Hall swung open of their own accord. The streaming throng of new students poured into the room. The first thing they noticed were the four enormous tables that stretched from one end of the expansionous room to the other. Seated at them were already armies of previous students, each bearing tribal colors that bound them to their House brethren. Those that looked up saw an open night sky filled with swirling clouds, but no wind or precipitation fell from it.

Headmaster McGonagall stopped the troupe at the steps leading the professors' table. A stool with a pointed hat on it rested in front of them. McGonagall strode around to her seat at the center of the professors' table, but remained standing. Everyone in the hall went silent. McGonagall glanced momentarily at a new face that was sitting two seats down from her right. A tumble of long shiny black hair fell back from a pale face as it rose from looking downward at the table. A young face, younger than any that had been seen at the professors' table before, looked up at the headmaster. Blue eyes with a dull shine looked up at her coolly. McGonagall flustered slightly at meeting the man's gaze. Composing herself, she addressed the school at large.

"Welcome, all. Hogwarts is at the beginning of a new era. With the death of previous Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and the recent events in the world outside these walls, a number of great changes have been made inside these walls as well. To begin with, the faculty of this school, as well as the Ministry of Magic, has agreed that due to the state of affairs, we have widened our credentials for allowance to Hogwarts, as is evidenced by the size of our first-year class. With the increased presence and aggressiveness of the Dark Lord Voldemort and the events of last Yuletide…" McGonagall stole a worried glance back at the black-haired young man. "It has been decided that an education in the knowledge and use of magic would be best-suited if offered to as many as would undertake it."

Sounds of protest came from the Slytherin table. McGonagall fixed her stern eye on them.

"Also with the…departure of the previous head of Slytherin house, Severus Snape, the position has been given to our potions professor, Horace Slughorn!"

Obligatory applause moved through the crowd as a short, bald, rotund man with an enormous silver moustache labouredly rose from his seat and nodded to the students. He groaned as he sat back down.

"I now introduce the newest addition to the family of Hogwarts…" McGonagall looked once more at the black-haired man. "A man whose name has become well-known throughout the world, a renowned man of magic, and esteemed defeater of Dark Wizards…I introduce The Loki!"

Patches of applause went up through the room, but was domineered by stunned silence. The man rose from his seat and nodded thanks to McGonagall.

"Just Loki, please, Headmaster. Students of Hogwarts, I know my name has been attached to many things. Many of which have been deemed evil and monstrous by the greater population of the planet. What I did was necessary. People lament the loss of the world they knew; however, without my actions, the human race would be extinct. Truly, the magic folk like yourselves will only benefit from this. Things like…" Loki stopped his oration. "Those who have me in class can hear everything. That's all I have."

"Thank you, Professor Loki." McGonagall said. "Things are unfamiliar, and you are uneasy. Perhaps some expected routine will quell your discomfort. The sorting begins now!"

Hagrid stood beside the stool and raised the Sorting Hat. It began to speak.

"Darkness lies outside the walls, bringing you to me. The world is changed; frightening things you see.

You come here now to find your place, but darkness hides here beneath a pleasant face.

We shall teach the newfound the skill of spells, to ease their lot in what they see as hells.

See come you now to your new abode…and find what new tale will be told."

The first of the new students, looking quite a bit older than the standard age of eleven, came forward, looking nervous. Hagrid smiled reassuringly through his massive beard and placed the hat on the teenage boy's head.

"Hufflepuff." The hat announced.

"Is that good?" The boy asked though the cordial applause.

"It certainly is." Pomona Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff house, asserted with a wink. "We need more of your kind these days." The residents of the Hufflepuff table rose to welcome their new brother. With a grin, the boy joined his Hogwarts family.

It took a long time to sort through the first-years, being so many. Eventually, the last of the newcome found a place at the Slytherin table. The Sorting Hat, for the first time ever, was looking tired. Hagrid was about to take the hat away when Loki stood up.

"One moment, Hagrid."

Every gaze turned toward him in surprise.

"Professor Loki, what are you doing?" McGonagall asked.

"I was never a student of this place, Headmaster. I'm curious to what I would be had I been. May I try the hat on?"

"If you wish." McGonagall allowed.

Loki remained standing while Hagrid placed the Sorting Hat on his noggin. The hat visibly jolted upon contact.

"Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh…" The hat stammered, pulling back from Loki's skull. Finally, it steeled itself and gingerly rested on the black mane of hair. It seemed to be fighting to keep itself on top.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted with startling intensity.

Hesitant applause spread through the room, particularly from the Ravenclaw table. Loki nodded thanks to Hagrid and took his place at the professors' table.

With that, McGonagall commenced the feast. The first-years flinched when the culinary multitudes sprang into being from the empty trays.

From the Gryffindor table, two seventh -year students spoke at length.

"Have you heard of this Loki fellow? I've heard a lot of rumors." Ron Weasley whispered to Hermione Granger. "Some wizards call him a hero, while others call him a monster. What have you heard?"

Hermione didn't seem to hear him. She was fixated on the Professors' Table.

"Hermione!" Ron said somewhat loudly.

"Whu?" She spat out, startled.

"Did you hear me? I asked you about Loki."

At the mention, her attention drifted back to the Professors' Table.

"Loki?" She airily muttered.

"Yes, him…HERMIONE!"

She blinked hard. "Whu?"

"He's no Victor Krum. If he's Ravenclaw, then he has a brain in that raven-maned head of his. But he seems to share Krum's creepy personality." Ron said with increasing bile.

"We have Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow. We'll see for ourselves."

Ron only grumbled into his chicken wings.

The next day, in a wide open room of the castle that was minimal in decoration, the first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts waited with apprehension for their new professor to arrive.

"So where is Professor Loki?" Ron sneered. "It's not for a new professor to be late to his first class."

"I'm not." A dark Irish voice echoed from all around the gaping chamber. "It certainly isn't for a student to speak ill of a professor he hasn't met yet on his first class, Ron Weasley."

Heads jerked around, trying to find the source of the sound. Several gasps were heard when a black-wrapped figure stepped into view from a shadowy corner of the room. A long black leather coat and long black hair had hidden the figure in the darkness that lurked in the recesses of the room.

Professor Loki settled into place in front of the class to begin the lesson.

"Already, some of you are wondering what kind of spell I used to go unnoticed that way. We'll get to that. To start with, a little bit about me. I could be equated with many of the magical folk in that I grew up outside the modern world. Magic was the norm for my clan, but we lived in awareness of the modern world outside our abode. I left them after a while, and lived the modern world. I kept my sorcery secret like most magic folk, but unlike a lot of purebloods, I embraced the modern world and nearly all its accoutrements. After a long time in what I thought was unique solitude, I starting finding there were others living like I was; many more than I would have wagered. I also found there was a huge conspiracy going down way beneath the surface of the world I thought I knew so well. Not unlike the wizarding folk in school, there were other magic folk that hiding themselves in plain sight of the masses. They called themselves Nocnistu. Folk like yourselves would have been on the tops of their hit lists, since they were non-human magic-wielding creatures that were primarily focused on committing genocide on magic-using humans so they could take the world as their own with a mystic fist. They pretty much had already succeeded at that part. If it hadn't been for all their internal conflict looking out for number one, they probably would have recovered from what was done to finish them off. Does anyone know what that was?"

The students looked nervously at each other. No one had the courage to answer.

Finally, a seventh-year Gryffindor boy raised his hand, trembling.

Loki pointed at him.

"Yes, you."

The boy gulped loudly.

"You destroyed the world?"

To everyone's shock, Loki applauded.

"That's daring, young one. Just the kind of answer I was hoping for. Yes, I did destroy the world AS IT WAS KNOWN. I set off a slew of Electromagnetic Pulses across the planet that fried everything electronic on Earth. It set mankind back centuries. It had to be done, or humanity would have gone extinct. Humankind was so spiritually dead and so dependent on technology to survive they were going to die out from sheer weakness. That was exactly what the Nocnistu had wanted. After the Muggles were tenderized into ineffectitude, the wizards would've been easy pickings since there were so few of them. I really did the world a favor, but few would agree with that. Humanity was going a direction it wasn't in control of, and the only way to give the world to the humans that were supposed to have it was to take that world away. It was like amputating a cancer, but this body can grow that limb back even better than it was before. I'm here to help with that. Those that are wondering why the class is so huge this year can blame me. I presented a case to the Ministry of Magic about opening Hogwarts' doors to anyone that wants to enroll."

Another hand rose, now that the intense ice was broken.

"Question?" Loki asked.

"What are the Muggles going here? They can't do magic." A girl of Slytherin asked.

Loki's face tensed for a moment, underlying his attractive young-looking visage with the potential explosion of a nuclear reactor. He glared at the crowd, and for a moment, his eyes turned completely black.

"What makes you think Muggles can't do magic?"

No answer.

A moment later, Loki relaxed.

"I'll be answering that question a lot for a while, so you'll all be first in on something everyone in this school's going to learn soon. There're very few who truly can't do magic. Most anyone can. What you call Muggles just have a harder time with it than the gifted folk. It comes more naturally to Purebloods and even Mudbloods, but that doesn't mean magic belongs only to you. Even someone without a lick of wizardry can take you down. Miss Slytherin, would you come forward, please?"

Many of the crowd of students took a step back, leaving the Slytherin seventh-year standing alone. She came forward, coming to a stop around five paces from Loki.

"There's just fine. Now, Miss?"

"Lexis."

"Miss Lexis, I give you my permission to attack me in any way you wish, right now."

Lexis' eyes drifted toward Loki's hands, which remained hanging at his sides.

"I don't have a wand, Miss Lexis. Attack."

Mentally shrugging, Lexis thrust her wand forward.

"_Expelli_AAAHHH!!!"

The moment she had begun to incant, Loki lunged forward, knocked the wand aside with his fist, and blasted his other hand into her nose. The impact and shock sent Lexis crumpling to the floor with blood bursting from her broken schnoz.

"THAT…" Loki emphasized, pointing down at her. "…is what some Muggle without a lick of magic and half a brain can do to you." He knelt down next to Lexis and placed his hands on her broken nose.

"_Episkey_"

With a warm glow, Lexis' nose was mended. He helped her to her feet and returned her wand to her.

"Thank you." Loki said with sincerity. "The voice of dissent is the one that prevents decay. SO!" Loki addressed the class as a whole as Lexis returned to the crowd. "We're starting the new regime at Hogwarts with a completely mundane lesson. Because any fool with a .44 Magnum can pull a trigger before you can say Stupefy. Everyone find a partner, and we'll begin."

Ron grumbled to Hermione as they squared off.

"The whole idea of being at Hogwarts is to do MAGIC. What's the point of brawling like uncivilized apes?"

"He just made that point clear, Ron." Hermione said with a hint of steel. "It would be safe to assume that Voldemort is out there recruiting new Death Eaters from people trying to find a place in the world as it is. And I would also bet that he's teaching them these same principles. We need to be prepared."

"I liked it better in Dumbledore's Army with Harry. Any fool can swing their fist."

Hermione was already glued to the lesson. Loki was demonstrating a diagonal step that evaded a wand's blast from the outside flank of the attacker's body, but also brought the defender into striking range. He moved slowly, making each nuance apparent and understood. He retook his position and repeated the step, this time swatting the offending wand aside in mid-step.

Resetting once more, he repeated his simultaneous actions, and this time fired out his fist, stopping just short of the eye of the student he demonstrating on.

Once everyone got the gist of the technique, they selected who would wield the wand and who would fire the fist. Slowly crawling through the foreign movements, the students emulated what their professor showed them. Little by little, the awkward coordination gained fluidity, and the students were beginning to enjoy themselves.

Hermione was starting to smile as she glided in and out of range of Ron's wand as he leveled it at her.

"What's so funny?" Ron sneered, feeling stupid pointing a wand at her without saying so much as a magic syllable.

"I like this. It's shame we live in a boarding school. I wish I'd started this when I was younger. The Muggles had schools of martial arts all over."

"HAD is right. They also used to have post offices and airplanes before that Loki prat came along. My dad was fascinated by the Muggle world, and he destroyed it."

"You mean the Muggle world where we had to do everything in secret?" Hermione sneered in return.

"I mean the one where-"

POW!

In their mutual aggravation, both Ron and Hermione made their attacks with more gusto then required, and Ron face connected solidly with Hermione's fist. A flash of white light exploded in Ron's vision as he fell to the floor.

"Ow…" Hermione muttered, holding her aching knuckles. Ron clutched at his aching eye, which was already swelling closed.

"I hate that man…" He groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Ron left the hospital wing an hour later. His black eye was back to normal, but he wouldn't remove his hand from it. Whatever snickers he earned from passerby were silenced soon after they saw the others that had also grown overzealous in mystic martial arts practice. Loosened teeth and pounding headaches had been tended to by the nursing staff, but the nurses seemed actually relieved by the injuries.

"It's far easier to mend a simple bruise than someone wot's got a Bat-Bogey Hex on 'um!" The nurse cheerily called to the moping crowd of students, who were far unused to such an aftermath to a class.

Hermione, in her usual gusto for a new subject, kept reenacting the rolling-parry punch she had learned from Loki. Ron instinctively looked away, mentally avoiding another crack in the ocular receptacle.

Settling into her one-track determination, she said to Ron, "We have a little time before next class. Maybe you can run back to D.A.D.A. class and get your books. You did leave them behind when you ran to the hospital wing."

Ron glared at her.

"Professor Loki can keep them. It doesn't look like we'll be using them, anyhow. We'll probably be head-butting brick walls next."

"But you WILL need your book for Potions." She tugged assertively on his arm in a way that stifled all arguments. "We're going."

When they arrived at Loki's office, they immediately noted it was the same one Professor Lupin had used during his brief tenure at Hogwarts. The door was closed and locked.

"Every Dark Arts professor's had something to hide. It goes with the curse You-Know-Who put on the position. If Loki's using Lupin's old office, I wonder what he's got to hide?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Loki's voice exploded from inside, echoing down the corridor.

"Guess we'll find out." Hermione said with surprise. She leveled her wand at the door.

"_Alohamora_!"

The door burst open. All the furniture in the office had been arranged in a circle surrounding the center of the room. In the center was a large circle on the floor, drawn in chalk. In that circle was Loki, wearing only loose black pants. He didn't appear to have noticed them. Every muscle in his body was taut and strained. He had the strength and tone of an Olympic gymnast. Both Ron and Hermione's gazes drifted downward, being extremely unaccustomed to seeing a professor in such a situation.

Loki's hands balled into tight fists as he inhaled deeply. His hands came up to his chest, then drew back to just below his armpits. They opened as Loki slowly thrust his arms forward with a hoarse exhalation, expelling all his breath. As he exhaled, his knees bent and turned inward as his body lowered. At the end range of his motion, he looked like he was holding in a severely full bladder.

Hermione and Ron involuntarily flinched as they felt some sort of heavy, dark aura permeating from the circle.

"Is…is that the Dark Arts?" Hermione whispered to Ron.

"I knew it. He's as bad as Snape." Ron whispered back; some of his fear trickling to the surface.

"You're both half-wrong. And half-correct." Loki said without looking at them. With a final deep sigh, he took a more natural posture. As he exited the chalk circle, black smoke appeared to be leaking from his body. "What I'm doing is more Defense Against Darkness itself, than those Dark Arts everyone's so worried about. What I'm up against is far beyond what old Moldywart could conceive of, and he'd probably piss his pants if he ever encountered true darkness. The difference between me and Snape is ol' Severus would've given himself to it without hesitation." He looked at them both with steely eyes that, for a fleeting instant, flashed black. "I'm keeping balance."

"You know Snape and Voldemort?" Ron snapped accusingly.

Loki was not flustered by the outburst.

"I know OF them. Since the EMPs, Moldywart's been pushing to make himself a warlord of the British Isles. My boy's been paying particular attention to that as of late."

"You have a son?" Hermione asked probingly.

"Yes." Loki said, and spoke no more of it. "It was his idea that I come here. Participation in organized systems isn't really my thing. We agreed that the populace wouldn't find a direction fast enough to do much about the Death Eaters. Also, Hogwarts was considering closing down after that fiasco with Albus' death…"

"You knew Dumbledore?" Ron asked, finding it hard to believe this man he had come to loathe would be acquainted with such a saint as Albus Dumbledore.

"Didn't everyone?" Loki asked matter-of-factly. "Wish I could've made the funeral, but I was entrenched in a secret war at the time. The funny thing is, the creatures I was facing would have probably taken Voldemort down themselves if they weren't focused on me. He was drawing too much attention to the world in the shadows. The Nocs would consider him a rogue, and they had resources Voldy didn't. He would've been toast."

"Then you damned us." Ron snarled. "Voldemort's rising to power because of you!"

"Perhaps I'm partially responsible for that. But keep in mind what I just said. I took down a far stronger enemy than Voldemort, who is really a petty warlord that's being kept in check by all his competition who want to plunder the cataclysmic aftermath of technological genocide."

Ron opened his mouth to speak again.

"POINT IS…" Loki interjected fiercely, stopping Ron in his verbal tracks. "What's past is past, and I've just told the both of you a lot more than you came here for. What did you need?"

"Ron left his books." Hermione said, gesturing to a pile of them on one of the desks.

"Ah yes." Loki gathered Ron's volumes and handed them back. Ron snatched them away. "You weren't the only one. Several people were so shocked by the lesson they forget their supplies."

"Are they all going to be like that?" Hermione asked, wondering what else Loki had to offer.

"Hardly. Defense Against the Dark Arts is going to cover a multitude of areas no other professor at Hogwarts has ever delved into. Being seventh-years, this will most likely shatter your educational momentum. This is the way it's going to be. All the students need it to get by in the world today."

Loki was on the verge of a smile, when his face tensed painfully. He clutched a hand to his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Aren't you two late for class?" He forced through a clenched jaw. He stepped back into the circle and began to inhale deeply.

Ron and Hermione took that as their cue to leave.

The door slammed closed behind them, even though no one had laid a finger on it. They quickened their pace away from the office and sprinted to Charms.

After class, Ron and Hermione decided to take what they had learned to Headmaster McGonagall. She already looked flustered when they arrived at her office.

"Is it about Professor Loki?" She asked wearily as the pair entered.

"Well…yes." Hermione answered.

"I've been fielding a lot of controversy today about him. I knew this would happen when he was accepted to the faculty. But the Ministry was convinced he would ultimately prove beneficial to the school. Then I find he's not even teaching magic in his class…Was one of you injured?"

"Not badly." Ron said, surprising Hermione. "What we're here about is Professor Loki seems to have a lot of knowledge about You-Know-Who and his activities around Britain. With Harry out there, and the Ministry of Magic doing what it can to beat back the Death Eaters, whatever he knows might be of help to the cause."

"That's surprising to hear, Mister Weasley." McGonagall said, tipping her spectacles downward. "The other students I have seen today from your class say that you and Professor Loki have already commenced a feud."

"Regardless of how I feel about someone…if he can help Harry, then that's what matters."

Hermione looked at Ron with admiration. She had nothing to add.

"Very well, Mister Weasley. I am already going to be speaking with Professor Loki later today. He and I had an extensive interview before he was taken on as a teacher, so I know more than you would guess. But I shall see if I can find out anything more."

"Thank you, Headmistress." Hermione said as they left the room. In the hallway, she punched Ron's arm. He winced.

"Good to see you acting like yourself again, Ron. That jealous streak seems to finally be subsiding."

"Harry's more important than anything here. He's more important than our graduating. Fred and George didn't graduate, and they're doing smashing!"

"THEY are, Ron, but I don't foresee you opening a joke shop at any point. What ARE you going to do with yourself after this year?"

"I don't rightly know. At Bill's wedding, Harry made us promise we'd finish here and make ourselves useful to the world at large. I'm not sure what to do with the world as it is."

"You haven't really lost anything, Ron. Your family never used Muggle technology. Mine did. I'm the one who's scared to face the world outside."

Tears started welling in Hermione's eyes as suppressed worries bubbled surfaceward. Ron pulled her close. For a moment, they held each other as they each comforted the other's woes.

When they broke the embrace, it felt like pulling out deep-set roots.

"I've…I've got Potions." Hermione stammered.

"I've got…yeah." Ron stammered back. "See you later."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The next session of Defense Against the Dark Arts found the Seventh-Year students walking into the classroom with a bit more spirit then previously. In the interim between their first session and the current, many of them found an appreciation for the deviance from their normal curriculum. Other professors were holding steadfast to their lessons from yesterterm, not paying any heed to the change of circumstance outside Hogwarts' walls. The students, after finding the mentality of yet other professors had changed in light of the school's near-closing and necessary re-opening, that times did indeed call for more expedient knowledge.

Which caused a great deal of surprise when the students saw Loki sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, holding a pair of wands.

"Today, now that I've shaken your perspectives a bit, I'm going to really shatter your realities. Two volunteers, please!"

Ron and Hermione stayed silent, unsure of what was going to transpire. Lexis also stayed in the back. Two other students took a step forward. Loki tossed them each a wand. They each eyed the magic sticks as he rose from his chair and stepped away from it.

He gestured to the student on his right.

"If you would, please transfigure the chair."

The student aimed the wand and spoke the charm.

The chair transfigured into a small tree.

"Very good." Loki gestured to the other student. "Your turn. Same thing."

This student eyed the wand once again.

"Professor Loki, this isn't a proper wand. This is a stick with a handle! It's not even properly carved!"

"So? Transfigure the tree. With that wand."

Giving Loki a look of disbelief, the student aimed the wand at the tree and incanted.

Nothing happened.

Loki only nodded subtly.

"I expected that. Please return the wands to me."

With both wands back in his possession, Loki raised the uncarved stick to eye level, made sure everyone saw which wand he was using, then pointed it at the tree.

Not a word was spoken, but the tree transformed back into a chair.

"You're stunned." He said to the class, with his back still to them. "This is where the lesson begins." He pointed toward the curtains that were drawn on the far side of the room. They pulled back to reveal a multitude of chairs just like the one before them all.

"Everyone please take a chair. You won't want to be standing throughout all there is to say."

When everyone had arranged themselves, Loki held up the other wand.

He then sharply slammed it against his knee, breaking it in half. Several gasps came from the student body.

He plucked out a long brown hair from the shaft. He held it before everyone.

"This wand had a satyr hair in it, so it has a touch of magic."

He then snapped the other wand in half. All there was, was two halves of a stick.

"This was merely uncarved wood. So how was I able to use it?"

Silence abounded.

"I didn't really use it."

"You used the other wand?" A student asked.

"Uhhh…no. There was no slight-of-hand or misdirection involved. What I mean is I didn't rely on the wand as a crutch. I really did it all myself. Has everyone at this point heard of thought-magic?"

General assertions.

"Okay, good. Being seventh-years, it's high time you were entrenched in it. As demonstrated last class, your wand and fancy Latin can be a hindrance if you're too attached to them. It's time to break all of your minds."

The students leaned forward in their chairs, filled with suspense. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, wary of what was coming next.

"Does anyone know what magic really IS?"

Everyone, including Ron and Hermione, now just stared at their professor.

"Do you think it's just some tool that some precious few got embedded into their genetic code?"

The class gaped at their professor. The seizing up of their mental gears was nearly audible.

"It's a new age, folks. It requires a new wisdom. Are you all prepared to be Neomagi?"

Loki's gaze grew hard.

"I'm asking a question, people. Can you handle what you're about to undergo?"

Ron and Hermione once again glanced at each other, certain they were about to take a nose-dive into the Dark Arts.

"I wasn't either." Loki said, breaking the tension. "No one ever really is. I'll cut straight to it. For those of you that never studied modern science, it has a lot to do with the quantum levels of reality. At the core level of existence, beneath matter, anti-matter, electromagnetic fields, and all that, is a pantheistic energy that comprises literally everything in existence. It has many names, but the wizarding elite refer to as Edunkira. I dare you to bring that up to some of the other teachers here. See how they respond. Since everything in existence as made of this singular, all-pervading Edunkira, nothing is actually separate. Even the vastness of space and even time doesn't separate anything. So, if everything is in fact one, if I can manipulate myself with mere thought, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do the same with anything else."

Loki pointed at a student whose eyebrow was starting to cock.

"Go ahead. Ask your question."

"If everything is one, why do we have individual thoughts and personalities?"

"Because of the surface reality of those brain functions and grey matter operating on a Classical Physics scale instead of Quantum. There are different rules for different levels of reality. Classical physics doesn't work like quantum does. At the shallower end of reality, there's space and time and the solid illusion of separation. Magic is the use of higher brain function to tap into the deeper levels of power found beneath visible reality. It's paradoxical, but the lower brain can only conceive of the shallow reality, while the higher brain digs down to the deeper reality. Without conscious awareness of Edunkira, your interactions with it will be subconscious and random. Magic is the conscious manipulation of Edunkira to use the universe as your tool. With that in mind, we return to the wands."

He held up a broken half of each wand.

"Edunkira doesn't exist in equal amounts. It flows, collects, stagnates, and changes form. Some things have more Edunkira than others. Your wands, for example, were originally only sticks, but their carving via magic ritual and adding some kind of accentuation imbued them with more Edunkira, which made them more magical. The stick here has Edunkira, too, just not as much. This illustrates the difference between Muggles and Wizards. Due to some genetic happenstance, Wizards are born with either more innate Edunkira or higher brain activity, while Muggles are born with less of either. That doesn't mean they can't do it. Just like this stick, it's merely more difficult. I was still able to use the Edunkira in the stick since it came from an old oak tree that had a higher than normal energy count, but less than that of a carved wand. Being aware of Edunkira's existence makes it available to you. I'd wager the gene that allows for easier use of magic must be recessive, since purebloods seem to be dying off, and they've have the highest chance of passing those traits on. The Nocnistu probably were to blame for that, too. Ah, well. I'm here now to bring that back to the surface. Everyone's got the power of a god. Most people never know it."

Several of the students were looking at their wands, as well asthemselves, with newfound wonder.

"Watch this."

He locked his gaze on the mess of chairs. They all skidded apart with violent screeches. The students grabbed hold of the moving furniture, dropping their wands to the floor with a clatter.

"All of you can do that without a wand. It'll just take time to develop your minds to that level of strength. To get there remember this. We are made of the same stuff as the gods. If we are made the same as the gods, then we are gods as well. Gods make reality what they wish. Which means you will get the reality you desire. Be that oneness…or total separateness. Even though all is one, we still are control of ourselves, which means we can extricate ourselves from the universal whole if we truly want to. I would never recommend it, though."

Loki's gaze drifted off for a moment with his thoughts. He blinked hard, returning to the present.

"It's bad. Anyway, with that in mind, we'll begin the activity. Please leave your wands on the floor. You won't need them."

The students rose with minds bubbling with mental overload. They had never been hit so hard with a lesson so alien, so surreal…

So empowering.

"Please take your chairs and find some space on the open floor. We'll be continuing to transfigure, only without wands and without incantations. If you're finding yourselves with a mental block, remind yourselves that the matter that comprises that chair is ninety-nine percent empty space. There isn't really much chair to remold. There isn't really a chair there at all. It's yourself. It's everything. That should make the process a lot easier."

With a rush of ego fueling them, the students dove into the activity.

Some strained until sweat poured from their brows, but could not so much as change the chair's color. Loki's hand would rest on their shoulder, drawing a gasp from them.

"The force of the universe flows through you without effort. Straining will only kink the hose. Relax."

Others found themselves instant adepts, remolding the substance of existence by pure intention, tying their chairs into pretzels by sheer mind-force. Hermione struggled with the idea of casting aside her entire education and freefalling into an entirely new approach to magic. Merely focusing all her attention on the chair wasn't proving enough to even make it tremble. So she showed a conspicuous twinge of shame when Loki laid his hands on her arms, and raised her right limb as if she were still using her wand.

"If you must keep a foot in the lower realms to start, then do so." He practically whispered in her ear. "Act as if the wand were still in your hand. Imagine it's there, and it will be the same as if it truly were. But don't say any magic words you've read in some musty book. You've spent too much time merely repeating what other people have done. Every spell was invented by someone …someone just like you. Why couldn't you do the same? Right now?"

Loki released his grip on Hermione and stepped away to give her space. Steeling her mind, she closed her eyes, and envisioned that her wand was firmly in her grasp. Not giving herself a moment to doubt her self-induced illusion, she thrust her arm toward the chair, opening her eyes only at the last moment and calling out the first thing that came to mind.

"_STURNUT_!"

The chair sneezed.

Several students ducked and clutched at themselves, since when chairs sneeze, they sneeze wood splinters.

Ron gawked at the display, then turned back to his chair, which until now had been similarly stubborn to comply with any mystic prodding.

He tensed when Loki's hand come to rest on his arm. Loki leaned in closer. Ron pulled back.

"A strange paradox you have to face, Ron. Like me, you were raised with magic from the start. Which means whatever you were taught at that young age is going to have roots that hold you back stronger than almost anyone else. It'll be a hard blow that cracks the cage that's been built around your mind. Until then, the higher realms will stand beyond your reach. Still, please give another try."

Ron narrowed his eyes at the chair, redirecting his growing indignance toward Loki at the chair. He wanted the chair to explode, or catch fire, but it remained unmarked, mocking him. Ron grumbled to himself as Loki gave him a reassuring pat on the back and dealt with another student.

When the practice had ended, whether each student personally succeeded or not, the class as a whole was amazed that they could ascend in knowledge and skill so quickly.

"Professor Loki, did it really have to take seven years to get this far?" Hermione asked, feeling odd about having her mystic academic path yanked out from under her.

Loki smiled warmly. Several girls in the class grew doe-eyed.

"Not at all. I'd wager your development was actually slowed down by the structure of Hogwarts. But before I totally condemn the institution…I am a very avid lover of books and certain academic subjects, after all…I will say that it was a necessary measure to accommodate the vastness of the student body. The fewer students there are, the faster they always progress. Unless someone like yourself, Hermione, takes it upon herself to be the driving force behind her own development. Very admirable."

Hermione blushed. Ron's face also turned red, but for a very different reason.

In a fit of rage that shocked and overwhelmed the tiny part of his brain that was still being rational, Ron instinctively threw his hand out toward his discarded wand. Without so much as an "_Accio_", the wand soared through the air to Ron's grasp, and he threw the wand's tip in Loki's direction, giving forth no words, only a primal yell.

"While some…" Loki said with his back still to Ron. He spun to his right, and the bolt of Ron's rage incarnate blasted past him, striking the wall and scorching a hole in it. "…require only the proper incentive."

Still spinning, Loki swung his left fist in Ron's direction. Even though they were half a room apart, Ron's head snapped back as if he had eaten Loki's hand full in the face.

"Passion brings you power, too." Loki's voice grew grim. "A different kind. Be it love OR hate. A strong power, but far more dangerous. Egoism and emotion give you strength, but they will also eat you alive."

In the speed of an eyeblink, Loki had blasted across the room in a blur of motion, and had Ron pressed against the wall. His forearm dug into Ron's windpipe.

"Is your life really yours? Will the dark take you as well?" Loki smiled manically. His eyes had turned fully black, and his skin was darkening. "The dark has great power. Power no man can ever hope to truly possess. Those who seek to, deserve their fates. One I would wish on no one."

With a show of immense difficulty, Loki hurled himself away from the wall, leaving Ron a terrified wreck.

Loki looked up at the ceiling, and his entire body tensed, ready to explode from strain.

"Class dismissed." He forced out through gritted teeth.

He vanished from the room like he wasn't even there.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Headmaster McGonagall burst into Loki's office with her wand at the ready. Hagrid was with her, similarly armed. Loki was curled into a ball, shuddering in the center of the chalk circle on the floor. A translucent black bubble was pulsing around him, throbbing against some invisible barrier that prevented it from breaking beyond the chalk. They could hear Loki's labored, hoarse breathing, sounding as if he had blown his voice out.

"PROFESSOR LOKI!!" McGonagall bellowed, leveling her wand at the dark-enshrouded man's quivering form.

Loki rested his forearms and knees on the floor. He started to rise from the floor, and drew his head back.

Then he sharply threw it forward, making a loud cracking sound when he smashed it against the wooden floorboards. He clutched at his face and slid back down. A hand came back into view with blood oozing along the palm. Loki threw the blood upward, raining it down inside the circle.

As the blood pitter-pattered on the floor, the black bubble drew into his body. Still shaking, Loki rose to his feet. The bloody crack in his forehead melted back together before McGonagall and Hagrid's eyes.

Loki wiped the remaining blood from his face, but remained inside the circle.

"Is it your curse?" McGonagall asked, only now lowering her wand. Hagrid did the same afterward.

Loki nodded.

"The one I told you about. Here about class, I take it?"

"Of course. I brought Professor Hagrid, being head of Gryffindor House, to consult with you on the appropriate action."

"Here to represent the injured party?" Loki quipped with hint of defiant sarcasm.

"Why would I be representin' you?" Hagrid responded with equal tone.

"Wha?" Loki said, now confused. "I lost it on Ron."

"Reports from the students tell us that Mr. Weasley attacked YOU while your back was turned, and that you responded with only a single blow. The stories say you showed remarkable restraint. Professor Hagrid and I are here to hear your testimony, and your suggestion as to what action should be taken with Mr. Weasley."

"Oh!" Loki said, now stepping out from the circle. "That's surprising. Well, don't expel him."

"Are you certain, Professor Loki?" McGonagall asked. Loki nodded with absolute certainty.

"I told you a lot of things in my interview, Minerva. Don't know how much you know, Rubeus, so I'll fill you in a bit. My son has had some contact with ol' Moldy…"

"'Oo?" Hagrid asked.

"Voldemort. It's my pet name for the fucker. Voldy's been extremely active in the past few months. The event with the EMPs scared him out of sight for a while, but now without the threat of facing technological opposition, he's getting his nerve back. My son faced some Death Eaters and Moldy himself…"

"Yer son? He must be a youngin'!" Hagrid protested.

Loki remained unaffected.

"I'm far older than I look. Based on what my son encountered, he calculated Moldywart would be making some serious power plays to overtake his warlord competition in the Isles, which would include massive recruitment to the Death Eaters. Given how lost mankind is right now, many would be susceptible to that enticement. So people on a mass scale needed to be prepared to handle the world as is. That's why I came here. That's why I'm teaching what I'm teaching. There's no knowing when they'll need to use what they're being taught, so they need the good stuff right away. And teaching someone fast means you need to light a fire under their ass and keep it burning. Hogwarts has never been safe; even less so now. And I foresee something real nasty going down in the near future here. Everyone needs to be ready."

"What is that?" Hagrid asked, growing nervous.

"I'm not entirely sure. I see a lot of darkness growing within these walls. But then again, that could just be me."

He shrugged in a show of forced humor.

"What exactly ARE ye, Loki?"

Loki locked dull blue eyes on the half-giant's pupils.

"A very dark thing. The only other one of my kind I ever met called us Rahum. The details are too much right now, but to put it simply: I'm the thing Voldemort wishes he was. I'm in touch with the darkest of the dark forces, and I'm extremely hard to kill. I'd wager you've heard your share of rumors about me. I am rather famous. Guaranteed, Voldemort knows who I am, and he's probably itching to meet me. I have something he wants very much."

"Whit's that? Did ye know about this, Headmaster?" Hagrid persistently pressed. McGonagall nodded.

"I know some things, Professor Hagrid. Professor Loki has seen to tell me what we agreed was necessary to know."

"But if 'e's 'ere, then You-Know-Who could find out!"

"He will. I have no doubt." Loki interjected. "Yet, consider the students are in danger inside and outside these walls. It's the state of the world. Voldemort could go after them at any time, any place, or some other warlord could. Better they be among allies then alone, even if I'm around to make things interesting by Chinese definition."

"Then Mister Weasley?..." McGonagall asked.

"Remains. If he can control that temper, he can find he's stronger than he knows. He's worth keeping. He's a fierce protector. Just the kind of person the world needs."

"Then whit are ye suggestin'? Ron 'as to suffer some form o' consequence."

Loki smiled devilishly.

"Detention. With me. A long one. I can guarantee this conflict between him and I will be at an end."

McGonagall and Hagrid looked at each, discerning each other's approval. They nodded.

"If you feel that is appropriate, Professor Loki, then Ron Weasley shall serve detention with you this Friday."

"Excellent, Minerva. I'll take him the D.A.D.A. classroom."

Elsewhere, Ron was shuddering in the Gryffindor dormitory with Hermione by his side. All the other Gryffindor boys had left. Word of Ron's attack on Loki had spread as fast as a light particle on liquid speed, and the students were distancing themselves from him as quickly as they could for fear what would befall Ron, and whomever happened to be in the blast radius. Hermione held him; not about to leave Ron alone to befall whatever was coming.

"Expulsion would be a mercy." Ron squeaked. "He's going to rip out my soul and feed it to a demon."

Hermione said nothing. She couldn't be sure if any encouragement she could give would be meant. So they contented to sit on Ron's bed for nearly an hour, comforting each other with their presence, until a knock sounded at the dormitory door.

Ron began shaking all over again as Hermione gave him a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder and rose to answer the door.

She flushed when she saw McGonagall and Hagrid standing behind it. They were looking grim.

"Ms. Granger, would you leave, please?" McGonagall said with a tone that would have unnerved a rock.

With a quick glance back at Ron, Hermione slinked out of the room. Hagrid closed the door, leaving the three of them alone.

Ron tried to regain his composure, but the pounding of his heart was echoing so loudly he could barely hear anything else.

"Mister Weasley, a decision has been on your action earlier today."

Ron nearly choked, waiting to hear the words that would send him away from Hogwarts forever. He had failed Harry…he'd promised to finish for the good of himself and others…

"Professor Loki has discouraged your expulsion."

Ron nearly choked again, this time from ambivalence. He was relieved, and also terrified at what Loki had decided to do to him.

"Professor Loki has requested you serve detention with him this Friday."

Ron gasped. This was worse than expulsion.

"I want you to know, Mister Weasley, how very fortunate you are. I cannot think of a time when a student who attacked a professor has been given so lenient a punishment. Especially since the state of the world today so strongly demands that the Hogwarts family holds together for the sake of everyone in it. I will be deducting two hundred points from Gryffindor for this action."

Hagrid visibly winced.

"Do you have anything to add, Professor Hagrid?"

Hagrid sighed.

"Ron, Hogwarts is a different place. We 'ave a lot of Muggles 'ere now. A lot of 'em are already afraid of magic. We 'ave a responsibility to educate 'em that magic ain't so bad. Word flyin' around about students and professors fightin' in class is going to scare a load of 'em off. Then they'll be nearly naked out there in the barren world with those Death Eaters pillagin' and plunderin'. For that same reason, Professor Loki chose to keep you 'ere. Ye should be grateful, Ron."

Ron only made an incoherent grunt. He had too much hate and fear of Loki to feel gratitude toward him.

"I was initially going to write your family about this incident, but given Professor Loki's reputation, I cannot be certain of how your parents would respond to this situation. Therefore, it shall not leave Hogwarts' walls. That is all."

With that, McGonagall turned to leave, with Hagrid following.

Hermione, who had been hiding under a couch in the common room, crawled out after the professors left and rejoined Ron.

"What happened?"

"I'm not being expelled."

"That's-"

"I have detention with Loki."

"-extremely dangerous. But he didn't kill you outright in class."

"He's a Ravenclaw. He's smarter than that."

"I don't think he will kill you."

"Why? Because he smiled at you? Complimented you?"

"He was being encouraging."

"I don't want to hear any more. I've got two days before I have to see him again. I'm not going to hear another word about him until then."

"Fine." Hermione said flatly. "Just remember, even though he's got a dark side, you're the one that brought it out of him."

Ron was left alone the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

As the sun dropped below the horizon on Friday, Ron trepidatiously entered the D.A.D.A. classroom. It was dark and quiet. There was total darkness and total silence. Ron drew and spoke "_Lumos Maxima_!"

The tip of his wand illuminated like a torchlight.

He began to turn in a circle, searching the room for any activity.

When he turned back toward the entrance, an unseen force smothered his wand, casting him back into blackness. He tried to scream, but found his jaw wouldn't open.

Lights came on in the room. Ron saw that he was being restrained by a figure dressed fully in black. He wore a long leather coat that was wrapped around Ron's wand arm. His head was wrapped in a black scarf that obscured everything but his eyes. Ron knew those eyes. The blue irises pierced through to his soul.

"Professor Loki?"

Loki nodded as he released Ron's arm and removed the scarf. His hair was tied tightly back into a ponytail, which Ron had not seen Loki do before. The Lumos charm subsided.

"That's step one of tonight's lesson, Ron." Loki said in a surprisingly gentle tone, "You're getting a specialized one-on-one education tonight."

"I am?" Ron squeaked.

"On the importance and pertinence of my curriculum. Do you know what I just did to you?"

Ron could only affirm his ignorance.

"There was no magic for my invisibility. That was purely mundane stealth. I shut your jaw with high-level silent mind-magic. That's the sort of skills I'm looking to impart to the newest generation of wizards. Before we delve into that in detail, I'm going to show you why this is important."

Loki extended his hand. Ron moved back.

"It's this or expulsion, Ron. I swear to you, you will be alive when this detention is over."

Ron hesitated for several moments, then took Loki's hand.

He felt the air pressure increase around him, and a BAMF later, he found himself in Hogsmeade. A few people could be seen basking the late-summer eve, but many more were piling into pubs and shops to bask in the light of comfort and company.

"Want a drink, Ron?" Loki asked. "I'm buying." He pointed toward the Three Broomsticks.

"Uh…yeah."

They went inside. A few faces looked up at the newcome pair, and cheers abounded.

"Oy, everyone, it's Loki!"

Everyone in the pub looked toward the door.

"Hurrah for Loki!" Patrons sounded, raising their mugs to him.

Loki smiled broadly and spread his arms.

Several pub wenches rushed to him, nearly bowling him over in their embrace.

"Ladies, there's enough of me for everyone!"

Ron settled back into the shadows and sneered, resentful that Loki would receive such adoration.

Another woman pushed through the incoming throng of Loki fans. A curvy sort of woman. Ron took immediate notice of her, and so did Loki.

"Madam Rosmerta…" He purred, turning on a firehose of disarming charm. "How does this night find my favorite pubrunner?"

"Loki, you devil…are you trying to entice me?" She said, unable to hide her sprouting smile.

"I've already succeeded." Loki kissed her hand. She blushed like a schoolgirl.

"Just you tonight?" She asked.

"Sorry, no. I've got a student. Ron?"

Ron emerged from the shadows. He nodded reserved greetings to the other pubbers.

"This is Ron Weasley, Hogwarts seventh-year. We're on an educational field trip."

"Aye, I've seen him before." Rosmerta said. "Drink for ye?"

"Please. What's your poison, Ron?"

"Butterbeer." Ron answered, giving the first statement of real conviction since the night had begun.

"Two of those, Madam."

The drinks were served immediately. Ron noted the special service Loki was receiving.

"Why are you so popular here?"

"I'm their hero."

Ron nearly dropped his mug.

"You? A hero?"

"Yes. Wizards don't have to hide anymore. In fact, they now have a major leg up on the masses. People here are grateful to me for making it possible for them to live free."

"Hm." was all Ron would say. He saw Loki's point, but he wouldn't admit it.

"This is the pleasant part of our journey, so indulge the spirits while they last."

Loki slid Ron a butterbeer. Ron took a draught. He took a second, then slammed the mug dry. He noticed Loki was smirking.

"Special blend. Madam Rosmerta makes it just the way I like it. More?"

Ron nodded, reeling a little bit from the drink. It was much stronger then he was used to. Another slid his way. This time, Loki extended his own mug. Feeling the inebriated relaxation commence, he accepted the gesture, clinking mugs with his nemesis. They drained their mugs in single chugs and slammed then on the bar at the same time.

"Another one!" Loki bellowed.

Five butterbeers later, Loki and Ron were tipsy in their stools. Loki fell backward, landing with his head in the cleavage of the bar wench that rushed to catch him. He smiled slyly. Even in his mind-clouded state, Ron could tell Loki had meant to do that.

It sparked something in Ron. His liquid courage spoke.

"So Hermione just meant nothing to you, did she?"

Even in his position of relaxed ecstasy, Loki gawked at Ron.

"Huh?"

"Your hitting up on her on class. I'd have thought better of a Hogwarts professor."

"I paid her a sincere compliment. Her blushing just meant I paid it very well. I have a natural knack with women, and you take things far too seriously. You're a very jealous guy, Ron, and it's gotten you into a heap of trouble."

"Then you weren't moving in on her?"

"Of course not. Not that she isn't desirable. I can see what you see in her. But you've got to stop acting like this. Has the thought of her crossed my mind? Sure! I consider just about every woman I know in that context at some point."

Loki reached up and wrapped his hand around the bar wench's neck. She squeezed him tighter in her arms as he relaxed more totally.

"If you'd only be fuckin' direct about how you both feel, you wouldn't get so angry whenever some guy acknowledges her existence. If it took five butterbeers to ask me about that, then bring her here some night and get tanked. Maybe then you'll be able to spit it out."

Instead of getting angry, Ron slumped against the bar.

"It's so hard."

Loki's hand reached out and patted Ron's back.

"It always is. Did I ever tell you I met Harry Potter once?"

Ron jolted back up, nearly falling off the stool.

"When?"

"Around six years ago. When you were first-years. He wouldn't remember. He was unconscious at the time."

"Whu?"

"It would've been right after the encounter with Quirrel. Harry was recuperating for a while after his little adventure with you and Hermione getting the Philosopher's Stone. I saw him in bed when I answered Albus' call."

"What did he call you for?"

"To come get the Stone. Albus wanted it taken from anyone's access."

"Then you were the one who destroyed it?"

"It wasn't destroyed. It was consumed."

Ron just stared at him.

"The Stone wasn't what people thought it was. Ol' Nick was made immortal by leeching off its power, but someone that assimilates it into his body doesn't need elixir to live forever. I was born with one in me, and they're looking to get themselves put back together."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Philosopher's Stone was a shard of an ancient god. Anyone that had it had access to power beyond what most wizards could dream. Albus and I agreed the wrong people were after it, so someone had to take it from the world at large. It was a torturous undertaking."

"Wait…is THAT why you turn black and have that chalk circle in your office?"

"That's right." Loki nodded, raising a new mug of butterbeer to his charge for the evening. "I have a god inside me, and it's a mean one. The more pieces of it I take in, the stronger it gets. I get more powerful, but I'm in more and more danger of losing myself. It's itching to take over. It's been mostly manageable until lately, but right around the time of the EMP event, I took in another piece from someone else. Now, the god in me's really hard to keep under control."

"Then why did you do it?"

"The same reason I took the Stone per Albus' request. It had to done. Someone like Voldemort would be even more of a threat with the Shards in him. He'd be a god-man, too."

Loki threw himself back upright, now longer in a carnal mood. He slammed his sixth butterbeer back hard, drowning his encroaching sorrows in fermented bacteria shit.

Ron began to feel softer toward his hated professor. It was now his turn to lay a hand on Loki's back.

"You suffer a real burden, don't you?"

"More than you know. I'm to blame for the world at large."

"Seems like that's going well for you."

"In a while, you'll see the other side."

Loki snapped his fingers, and a high-tempo techno beat permeated through the pub from an unknown source.

People, fueled by ale, rose from their chairs and began to dance. Loki pulled a pair of wenches into the middle of the floor, kicking tables aside all the way. Snapping his fingers once more, flashing lights bombarded the room in a menagerie of colors. No one paid any mind to why or how; they danced.

Ron leaned back against the bar, trying to be invisible. Dances made him immensely nervous. He hadn't forgotten how he'd refused to take a step on the dance floor at the Yule Ball.

He didn't have to time to think beyond that rejected first step before a pub wench grabbed him and yanked him onto the floor.

"A friend of Loki's a friend of mine." She sultrily flirted.

The party carried on for the next hour, until the day gave way fully into night. Loki and Ron staggered out of The Three Broomsticks, leaning on each other to stay on their feet.

Loki let out a massive belch, expelling butterbeer fumes into the night.

"So Ron…you've seen the brighter side of my actions…now's it's time for the eclipse."

"Whur we goin' now?" Ron slurred. The reluctant dancefest hadn't burned off all of his stupor yet.

"Somewhere very different."

Loki extended his hand. Ron took it without hesitation.

Air pressure rushed up, and they teleported to a new location. They were standing on top of a hill sloping down into a narrow valley. A reinforced steel bunker was sitting half-buried on the soil below. Slits in the structure revealed gun barrels peeking out from within.

"The people inside that bunker have been holed up for months. They're too afraid of magic and monsters to come out. They're stocked with a huge arsenal. These folk abandoned their homes for fear of magi looters after the EMPs went off. They know who did it, and they're itching for a shot at me."

"Wait…you're going to charge the bunker? Why did we go drinking before this?"

"So this wouldn't hurt so much. Best keep back here, Ron." Loki dug his heels into the dirt, and shouted, "I AM THE LOKI!!!"

He sprinted down the hill toward the bunker and threw his coat off. The guns began to fire right away. Bullets ripped through his body, but he didn't slow down. He took a running dash at the wall of the bunker and fired his fist through it. The steel gave way like tissue paper, and Loki ripped the wall off. He ran inside, where screams and more gunfire erupted from inside. Ragged man who looked like they hadn't slept or eaten properly in months were thrown outside the bunker; after which Loki emerged to face them in open air. Ron could see the blood pouring from Loki's body slowing and eventually stopping as he tore into his opponents. Loki ducked and weaved as handguns were trained on him, narrowly slipping bullets that ripped into the landscape around them.

He slipped sideways from a Magnum round and advanced on the gunman. He punched the gunman in the back of the hand, which loosened his grip on the firearm. Fingers driven into the throat separated the gunman from his weapon completely. As the gunman fell gagging, Loki snatched the Magnum from his opponent's grasp and threw it at the hand of another gunman who leveled an M-16 at him. Breaking noises abounded as metal struck bone. The gun barrel lowered as Loki moved in and smashed the butt of the firearm against its wielder's chin. The gunman fell unconscious.

Several bullets tore into Loki's torso as the third gunman fired off all his rounds in a panic. Loki staggered back, once again spouting blood from multiple wounds. He stomped the face of the choking gunman who was still conscious on the ground beneath him. Blood and teeth burst from his mouth.

Loki laughed maniacally as he straightened once more from the onslaught of lead. His skin turned black and glistened like crystal. The light seemed to be actively repelled by his presence. The final gunman screamed like a little girl and tore off into the valley. Loki made a move to chase him, but caught himself. He made a savage grunt and curled himself into a ball. He screamed to the skies as the blackness faded from the flesh, and he returned to his pale self. Once again bleeding, he dragged himself to the entrance of the entrance and went inside.

One word was spoken.

"OUT!!!"

Five more raggedy people tore out of the bunker and ran off. A few minutes later, Loki emerged, holding a cache of weaponry. He gathered the weapons lying in the grass and gestured for Ron to come down.

As Ron descended the hill and gathered Loki's coat, he once again saw Loki's wounds were mending unbelievably fast. Loki handed him some of the arsenal.

"Ow…took more slugs than I should have. I had too many butterbeers."

"That was atrocious, what you did." Ron was reviled, partially from disgust, partially from too many drinks himself.

Loki only grunted.

"There's a lot of controversy going around about whether I'm a hero or a monster. The truth is, I'm both. It's relative to who you ask."

"Loki…why did you do that?"

"Three reasons. One, to show you the importance of mundane skills. Two, they were hiding from the world. I learned long ago that the world will find you no matter what you do, so there's no use avoiding it. Three…I needed their guns."

"What for?"

"We're taking them back to Hogwarts. I've foreseen some nasty activity going down there in the near future. It needs to be ready."

Loki extended his hand.

"Shall we?"

Ron took Loki's hand, and they were back in D.A.D.A. classroom at Hogwarts.

"Well, Ron…" Loki said as he removed his bloody shirt. His flesh was as unblemished as a newborn baby's. "I suppose you're wondering what good guns are in Hogwarts, what with modern tech not working in these walls? Well, modern would be a real specific term in this case, and it ties into the quantum lesson I have on Wednesday."

"That's everything's magic?"

"Yes…but also that is possible to have contrasting frequencies of electromagnetic fields. When you do magic, you delve into those EM fields, oftentimes generating one of your own via wasted energy from your spells. Modern digital technology in particular is so sensitive to EM fields, that a substantial blast of it will knock them out for good. Older tech stands up to them better, being more mechanical and less electronic. A digital camera would never work here; all the magic flying around would destroy it. But an old-timey photo machine would work. I've seen the school newspaper kids use those. So why wouldn't a simpler machine like these guns not work here? All there is a mechanism that creates a spark via a hammer that ignites exploding powder. Nothing EM about it. Which is why the EMPs didn't affect them."

Ron's jaw was hanging open. He'd never thought of those things before. Another thought twinged in his brain.

"All this time, I thought you were some sort of traitor to wizard and mugglekind. But with those electromagnetic pulses…"

"…liberated mankind from high technology by hitting the planet with the biggest blast of magic it's ever felt. It's fun to be vilified for doing what's needed. If I recall, that happened to Harry a couple years ago. Anyhow, we have three hours left in your detention. Now that we've dealt with your personal feelings toward me, it's time to get to the nitty-gritty. We need to get you ready for battle."

Loki settled into a ready posture.

"Attack."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Defense Against the Dark Arts increased in urgency in the coming weeks. Loki introduced the students to combat firearms, use of bludgeons and blades, stealth, and lots of silent magic. No longer were people wondering what the point was when he took the student body for mock battles in the castle courtyard and late-night hide-and-seek matches after-hours. They were now having too much fun to protest.

Every now and then, word would spread about Ron and Hermione's demeanor in class. The feud between Professor Loki and Ron had ended, and he and Hermione would often be slightly removed from the mass of the class, practicing their daily lessons with a bit more seriousness and precision than the rest. Often, they would glance Loki's direction and meet his gaze. Not a word was ever said, but it seemed they were silently sharing something no one else knew.

One day, they were confronted on it.

Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and Lavender Brown cornered them in the Gryffindor common room as Ron and Hermione were training in close-quarters wand use in their free time.

"Gone from teacher's nemesis to teacher's pet, 'ave ye?" Seamus sneered at the pair, while rubbing at a sore spot he'd gained in D.A.D.A. earlier that day.

"Professor Loki and I met in the middle." Ron said without much emphasis. He struck Hermione's extended wand down with his own, then pressed it to her neck. They broke apart and traded roles.

"We can see there's something going on between you two. Something different. With both of you." Dean said, prying into them.

"Are you snogging him, Hermy?" Lavender accused.

Hermione stopped dead and stared with the fury of a demon.

"I AM NOT." She said with flat rage.

"Well, he's always been so friendly with you…and since you and Ron won't take the bloody plunge…"

Neville interjected.

"What we're really trying to say here is…do you know something we don't? Something important? Is Loki planning something?"

Ron looked everyone over as the mounting tension slightly dissipated.

"He's planning FOR something."

"What is it?" Seamus pressed.

"Does it have something to do with Harry? Or You-Know-Who?" Dean asked, showing serious apprehension.

"He hasn't said anything specifically, but he did say something was coming. Here. And soon." Hermione explained.

"But given the state of things, anything he's teaching would be useful for either of them. If Harry still needs my help when I'm done here, I'll bring everything I've got to his side. Same goes for if Death Eaters show themselves here again."

Ron's grip tightened on his wand.

Seamus nodded.

"That's a good guess. People 'ave seen Loki wandering around Hogwarts, checking windows and doors, like he's expecting something to jump out of them. Even other professors 're saying that You-Know-Who would likely be making another crack at 'Ogwarts. It would be a bit o' secure real estate in a world where ownership is determined only by force."

"Might incline a person to take their lessons more seriously then, ay, Seamus?" Hermione sneered at him, returning the hostility he had initiated the talk with.

"Maybe. He is a fellow Irishman. He must have something worthwhile in mind."

"Ask him yourself. Use that Irish camaraderie." Hermione said, then shifted her gaze to Lavender. "Or snog with him. You're legal age. Not that it matters without any laws in these isles anymore."

Lavender stormed off.

"Loki's more approachable then people think. You just have to catch him at the right time." Hermione said her last, then returned to training with Ron.

Satisfied they had gotten as much as they could, the three boys left.

The next D.A.D.A. class, the students arrived with a new apprehension. Word had spread as fast as always at Hogwarts, and the student body had heard that Loki was not training people just for general readiness for the wild world outside, but for a specific threat against the school. As Loki entered the classroom, he had a very serious air about him.

"Word has already reached that me that people now know about the little secret I've been keeping, so I'll be straight. I have resources outside that inform to events affecting this place, and one of them has told me there is an assault being planned on this school. A large one. Since security is something that's in severe deficit since my act last winter, I decided not to scare anyone into thinking this place wasn't safe. The students needed a place to feel some sense of protection. But now, that safety is threatened by others that want that security, which is why I've been turbocharging the curriculum. Is it wrong to blame someone, especially now, for wanting some security? Not at all. But their gain would be your loss, and they would use this place to establish a new regime the likes of which I didn't wipe out the world to see rise again. So I'm in this with you. We have probably a couple of months before we can expect the strike. I've talked with the faculty as a whole about this situation, and they've consented to also train with me in the things I'm teaching you. For a while, Dark Arts and dark wizards will be all we worry about."

Many of students looked at each other now, all the rumors had been verified, but only now did they seem real.

"If you're worried about this, remember that Harry Potter's out there by himself, taking an offensive on Voldemort. We'll have home court advantage. Things could be worse for us."

Loki stripped off his coat and shirt. Just about every female eye drifted downward. Most male eyes bugged and looked away.

"We've spent a lot of time working on physical preparedness for an attack, magical or otherwise, but what we've never covered is your own fear of the Dark. If you can't overcome your terror, nothing that's been taught will be of any use."

Loki's body tensed so tightly it was fit to explode. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"Today…"

His skin turned black, and shimmered like crystal.

"…you face monsters!!!"

A visible shockwave of dark energy pulsed from Loki's body, knocking people backward. He let out a primal roar that sounded like choral stereo echoing off into the unknown beyond. Students screamed and tried to run, but a massive wind from nowhere slammed the doors closed. Now trapped and terrified, the students drew their wands and tried to incant, but their voices were dead in their throats.

Smiling like a psychotic predator, Loki zipped around the room fast as a blur, knocking people down and tearing things apart. The floor churned and buckled, sending people sliding across the room. Flames burst from Loki's roaring mouth. Those in the path dove out of the way, but couldn't think straight enough to launch any sort of counter. The curtains exploded with fire, letting loose burning fabric down on petrified students.

The black blur snatched up a Slytherin seventh-year and heaved her over its head. The black eyes that pierced into her led straight down into the abyss. Tears streamed down her cheeks from overwhelming fear.

Then white flesh replaced white, and the eyes of darkness gave way to blue. Loki gently placed her back on the floor, where she fell to her knees and couldn't stand.

As soon as it had started, it was over. Loki was panting and trembling. He looked around the room. Everyone had scrambled as far from him as they could, and were shuddering, totally paralyzed by fright.

Loki took a long, deep breath, then relaxed as limp as a wet noodle. He fell to the floor himself.

"THAT…is what we can expect when the attack comes. As you saw, everything we've covered this year went right out the window when faced with a real threat. So long as that fear remains, we'll lose. Bear this in mind; I'm more horrifying than what we'll be facing. If you can all get used to me, our opponents will be nothing. That's all for today. I'll see you all Wednesday. Expect the same thing. Expect it until it no longer scares you. Class dismissed."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

On the afternoon of Samhain, All Hallow's Eve for the unDruidic, the banquet hall of Hogwarts was filled to capacity. Headmaster McGonagall directed attention to Professor Loki, who had been hunched over at the table with his face downward until called upon. A shudder shot through his body before he rose. He addressed the collected population of Hogwarts Academy.

"Students, faculty, and resident spirits…tonight is the night. This is the night the Death Eaters strike. We've spent the last few months readying ourselves for this, and there is no reason to doubt we can't handle this. So…everyone, this is the moment we've been living for. First-years through seventh, professors et al, together we WILL win. Using the Room of Requirement can be ruled out, since they used it last time and there's a lot more of them this round. They don't have any inside help. The moles they had in the school were taken care of. So it's a safe wager it'll be a direct frontal assault to draw attention while more elite squads bypass the conflict and infiltrate. Every inch of Hogwarts is a potential battleground…and a potential safehouse. I went out a few days ago and got some more supplies from a contact of mine, so we're fully prepared. Here's the plan…"

When the sun sank fully beneath the horizon, and the Unseelie Court rose to take its place of prominence, a horde of black-robed figures slunk across the Scottish landscape. As Hogwarts Castle came into view, they stopped for a moment when all the lights went out from the windows. The Death Eaters hesitated at the odd act, but a serpentine voice prodded them menacingly from behind.

"KEEP MOVING!!" Voldemort pressed his herd back into motion.

The army of Death Eaters moved again through blackness, approaching the darkened castle. They stopped once more at the foot of the path leading up to the main doors.

"Dark Lord? It's very quiet." A Death Eater whispered to his warlord.

There was no response.

"Dark Lord?"

The Death Eaters looked around, but Voldemort was nowhere to be found.

"He has a plan." Another Death Eater whispered to reassure the mob.

They kept moving up the path to the closed gates. A quick check showed they were locked.

A Death Eater leveled his wand at the lock.

"Alohamora!" He incanted very quietly. The lock burst open with a tiny boom. The Death Eaters stealthily pushed open the gates. A creak emanated from the gate, but there was no echo.

"Sh!" They said to each other as they moved inside.

"Sh!" They said as they eased the gates closed.

"Sh!" They said as they commenced their silent invasion.

"SHIT!" They said as the middle of the mob exploded in fire and loudness.

The Death Eaters' screams were drowned in a hail of bullets that erupted from every elevated corner of the courtyard. Rounds ripped through their bodies, leaving smoking carcasses piled in a pool of blood. Although still unseen, a battalion of students and faculty emerged from their hiding places amongst the plant arrangements. They were all dressed in all-encompassing black, so only their eyes could be seen. Hagrid loaded another magazine into his AK-47 and called to the invisible squadron.

"Circle around to the sides! There'll be bound to be more comin' in from other passages!"

True to Hagrid's word, on the western flank of the castle, another larger Death Eater horde had broken through the oak front stairs with no resistance. They burst inside, intent on startling any unsuspecting resident so fiercely they would be unable to act.

To their delight, they came across a large number of students standing wandless on the stairs to the first floor. The Death Eaters couldn't hide their grins as they pointed their wands at the students.

"Don't make a sound, children, and you might live to talk about it." The leading Death Eater snarled jovially.

Ron shook his head.

"Don't have to talk."

The gaze of every student fixed even more fiercely on the incoming Death Eaters. The camouflage of their black robes was quickly lost when they all burst into flames for no apparent reason. Screams echoed loudly down the halls as the students drew knives and charged the flaming horde. Blades slashed through wooden wands and across veins, leaving spell arms useless. Knuckles smashed into their faces, mixing blood and bruises with burns. The Death Eaters quickly fell to the onslaught of sharp pointies and schoolyard beatings.

On the eastern side, the advancing squad of Voldemort's boys split into smaller teams and scattered like raindrops. They slipped into any window, door, or improvised entrance that could be found or made.

The first two found McGonagall leaning against the wall across from their entrance window, holding a .45 Magnum.

"Shit!" One of them squeaked.

McGonagall sniffed the air.

"Yes…you did."

BLAM!

The Death Eater who spoke keeled over in pain when the bullet drilled into abdomen. McGonagall pointed the gun at the other invader.

"Leave now. Take your smelly friend with you."

Without a word, the Death Eaters left the way they came. Sighing, McGonagall waved her wand over the trail of blood. It faded instantly.

"Bastards."

Another two-man team snuck in through a side entrance. They didn't move then three feet until a black-enshrouded figure leapt down from the door frame and scissored its legs around a Death Eater's neck. When the assailed invader reached up to pry the suffocating limbs from his neck, the other thrust his wand at the attacker and began to incant.

He didn't more than half a syllable out before his wand was violently struck aside by the black-clad attacker's wand and he got a length of enchanted wood jammed up his nose.

He only got out a small whimper before a female voice called out, "_Inflammato_!"

The aftermath was sickening.

Hermione threw her body backwards and twisted, dragging the remaining Death Eater face-first into the floor. She took off her camo mask and crinkled her nose at the stench of roasting Death Eater noggin.

"Yuck." She retched.

The defending battalion on the south side of the castle heard the commotion erupting on all the other sides, and they sat ready to respond to anything that came their way.

Nothing was coming.

"Hold, all. Whoever coming on this side's waiting for us to go handle the other influxes and leave this side exposed." Argus Filch sneered with a smile, holding an M-16 with reverence and feeling powerful for the first time on his life. He looked like an even-more-aged bald Rambo, weighed down with artillery and loving it.

Several members of his squadron looked back behind them with apprehension.

"Show some patience." Filch grumbled. "They'll show themselves."

As Filch squinted off into the darkness, he never saw the lone figure totally that darted around the castle perimeter and levitated itself to a second-floor window right behind the southern squadron. Filch and his unit looked stalwartly ahead, ready for any advance.

"Any minute now." Filch said with confidence.

The lone invader wasted no time silently making his way to the D.A.D.A. professor's office. Before deciding to blow it off its hinges, the figure tested the lock.

It was open.

Arming himself with his wand and ready to advance, Voldemort threw back and hood and burst into the room.

Loki was sitting cross-legged in the chalk circle in the center of the room. His tumble of raven hair hung in his face. He didn't look up.

"Would've thought you'd leave a messier trail of death in your wake, Tommy." Loki deadpanned. Voldemort's lack of lips curled with fury. "I applaud the stealth. Sticking the pawns in firing range while you back-door it? Guess that run-in with my boy taught you something."

Voldemort's serpentine red eyes bugged. "That was your son?"

Loki looked up and smiled like The Devil. His eyes were black.

"S'right. One can only imagine what Daddy's like. I'm what you want, Tommy. The most powerful magus on the planet, and damn hard to kill. Come take your spoils." He rose to his feet and tapped a finger on his heart. "Take this, and become me."

Voldemort smiled. He'd had his wand aimed at Loki the entire time. He incanted his favorite spell.

"_Avada Kadavra_!"

The death-dealing green beam screamed through the air at Loki. Loki took a step to his side, and the unblockable curse soared right past him.

A silent moment of stunned silence passed between them. Loki winked at his visitor.

"That spell's unblockable without love, so don't bother blocking it."

Loki sprinted out of the circle toward Voldemort. As soon as he was outside the chalk, he turned black and crystalline. Voldemort fired the killing curse again at the advancing daemon, but his adversary merely ducked under the blast and sprang up underneath his wand. The phoenix-empowered stick went flying. A diamond-hard crystal shoulder crushed in Voldemort's elbow joint, breaking his arm. A jagged fist slammed into Voldemort's flat nose, sending him reeling back into the hall. Loki followed, teasing Voldemort with his lost wand.

"Hey Moldy V, you want darkness? THIS IS DARKNESS!!!"

Loki thrust Voldemort's own wand at him, and Voldy's vision went completely blank, enveloped in shadows. His blindness only made the hurricane of blows that pounded from one end of the floor to the other all the more painful.

"You went to such lengths to more yourself unkillable, Tommy." Loki chided as he beat Voldemort to a snakey pulp. "That means I can pound you for eternity. Albus did say there were worse things than death." A solid kick launched Voldemort off a balcony and into a team of Death Eaters advancing from the east.

Loki leapt down after him, ripping and shredding his black crystalline claws into Death Eater flesh. In the mess of gore, Voldemort slipped out from the mess and took off down the hall. Cackling like a wild beast, Loki gave chase.

Loki pursued Voldemort down hall and corridor, in and out of rooms, enjoying the chase with a sadistic glee. Voldemort stuck to his original infiltration plan, putting as many of his Death Eaters between him and his pursuer as he could. Two bloody seconds later, Loki was gaining again, coated in fresh butchery. The students and faculty doing battle stopped and gawked at the sight that dashed past them.

In his panic, Voldemort eventually cornered himself with a seething Loki advancing on him, dripping with the blood and guts of the Death Eaters. He held Voldemort's wand in a slippery grip. He aimed it at the Dark Lord's chest.

"The deepest irony of this is I'm the true pure-blood, Tommy. You're crusading against the very thing you are. Muddies. Funny how we seek to destroy the things we loathe in ourselves everywhere outside, but never within. Meet the death you deal so lightly and fear so much. _Avad_-"

TING

A bullet ricocheted off the back of Loki's head, lurching him forward and dropping the wand. Without so much as blinking, Loki was on a stairwell, on top of the shooter and had plunged his blood-coated hand into the gunman's abdomen. Only then did he see it was Filch.

"Argus?" The black demon said. It pulled its hand out, and white skin bleached out dark. Filch fell backwards to the floor. Loki tried to catch him, but he was too bloody to hold on.

Finally remembering Voldemort, Loki looked down. Voldemort was gone. So was his wand.

"FUCK! He's gone! Why did you shoot me, Argus?"

Even mortally wounded, Filch clutched his gun close.

"I thought you were a monster, Professor."

Loki looked at Filch's wound, and the scraps of flesh barely recognizable as human strewn throughout the floor.

"I am a monster." Loki whispered. "What I said to Voldemort applies to me as well."

Loki laid his hands on Filch's run-through belly. He hummed a low tone. Yellow energy glowed from his hands, surrounding the wound. A minute later, Loki sat Filch up.

"That should speed the healing, but keep still until I can find help."

Loki went back the ground floor to survey the ending conflict. Bullet holes and scorch marks riddled the walls, and in many places, people were crying or staring blankly, unready for the mental consequences of using the skills they'd been taught for real.

Loki said nothing. He was feeling the same way.

He found Headmaster McGonagall, who was eyeing her Magnum with curiosity. He wiped his hand somewhat clean and shook hers.

"Headmaster, it seems the curse remains intact. I'm resigning."

"Whatever for, Loki?" She asked, bewildered.

"I think I've done more damage than good."

"If it weren't for you, the Death Eaters would have been the ones inflicting damage."

"They won't try this again, if there are even any left. So I don't have any further purpose here. Besides, I'm worse than they are. I'm too much of a danger to remain after my job is complete."

"If you insist, Loki."

"Thank you, Minerva. It's been a pleasure. Argus is on the second floor stairwell. He needs some attention."

Ron and Hermione were standing around, taking stock of the aftermath on the western flank. Ron was holding his hand, which he broke punching a Death Eater square in the chin. Hermione tapped it with her wand, mending it save for the bruising.

"You really stuck your wand up his nose?" Ron asked, simultaneously disgusted and impressed.

"It was a reflex. Loki taught us pretty well. When did he show you how to use that knife?"

"Detention. I showed the rest of the boys myself." Ron said with pride.

"Glad to see if paid off." Loki congratulated as he approached. "I know you two have seen combat before, but this was rather different than your previous conflicts. Wanted to make sure you were all right before I left."

"We may have nightmares for a while, but…left?" Hermione asked.

"I'm leaving for good. I'm not in control of myself enough to be leading anyone. I'm too dangerous."

"But you helped us! If it hadn't been for you…"

"It's done now. My task is finished. I'm going to find some solitude and really face what I am now. Good-bye, Ron, Hermione. If you do see Harry, send him my regards."

"Gladly." Ron nodded.

"It's been a rough night. I tend to relax with some drinks after something like this. Just a suggestion."

Loki started out the door, not bothering to pack anything with him.

"Love is in the air…" He sang softly to himself as he departed.

Getting a sly grin, Ron turned to Hermione, extending his bruised hand

"Would you be up for the Three Broomsticks? I'll buy you a butterbeer."


End file.
